Following my Instincts Always

So today in Upstate NY we had a blizzard come through. If being stuck at home isn’t bad enough trap me in a house with my mom and step dad.

We all survived with the exception of a porcelain figurine or two. This storm has led me to another day of downsizing. I have gone through all of my clothing and I have officially gotten down to a full closet and replacing my dresser with a cube storage unit from Walmart. I am in love with it.

I also moved my bedroom around and downsized the amount of space I take up. Instead of the whole in-law apartment I now only have the bedroom and half bath. The living room area has become a sort of office for my thirty-one gifts business but that’s only because I haven’t downsized the totes and office supplies yet.

This year is the first time I have stuck with my New Year, New Me crap for more than a few weeks. I may have finally found attainable goals for once. As I sit here setting up an online, week long, 31 Facebook Party I see a few things I can get rid of.

And instead of asking if I’ll need these items in the next few decades I’m going to trust my gut and get rid of them. I am finally learning to trust my butterflies!

I am all about celebrating everything women do for us everyday but this protest seemed a bit ridiculous. As I women I don’t see too much going down in the way of oppression of y rights. I feel as free as always.

Where was this fight when Obama was in office. He gave us a lot but we still had a long way to go. A few people take office talking crap about taking away our right but the same talk was here when Bush was president, what changed? Is the issue just that you don’t like President Trump?

Is it that we now live in a very butt hurt time that doesn’t know any other way to express our emotions other than to draw signs and scream? Is there any other way?!?!?!?!

what happened to true involvement? If you had a view point start a cause, work local and go from there… Just a thought.

So today is the first time my mother has said anything about my new lifestyle. I figured her lack of chatter on the topic meant she was fine with it. I was very wrong.

She told me today, as I made myself a vegan burger and home fries for dinner, that this may not be the “diet” for me because it cuts out things I love… So far the only thing I loved that had to be cut out was cheese burgers. Not a very unhealthy choice for me.

The only thing she convinced me of today is that this is the right lifestyle for me and that my results and lack of complaint upsets her. She, like most of the world, doesn’t like what we represent, the informed minority.

Now more than ever I am committed to the vegan lifestyle. I will never be tempted to go back because she has voiced in the past that I don’t rebel against her enough…

Today was a pretty nice day in upstate NY and all I can think about is how I can spend my whole summer just working and camping…

I spent the whole day researching camping gear and ideas for space saving for the trips. I stumbled on Van life. There are hundreds of people who chose to live in a vehicle to experience life in a different way. I wasn’t about to hop in my Jeep Patriot and start living on campgrounds… yet.

I now want to look into living on the road one step at a time. I want to spend all of Spring getting my self ready to spend two months camping out in my vehicle. It goes along with the minimalism idea to get rid of even more stuff and living as simply as humanly possible.

This challenge is going to force me to stop organizing my crap and start organizing my fun. I am challenging myself to be the very best I can be this year. I want my 2018 to be the year I don’t have to clean up my act, where I don’t complain about the mess around me and I finally freaking do something about it. Both the mess I have made of my health and the mess of my stuff. I want to be clean by 2018!

I’ve known for a while that I have too much stuff. My mother is very much a “place for everything” gal and I just never got that gene. As I have entered this journey of minimizing my belongings I have discovered just how bad my problem is.

Today I found a graded essay from the third grade… I am talking a book report from over 15 years ago! I decided right then and there this problem has to be controlled before I end up on a reality show arguing that I NEED those candy wrappers to survive. So today I began going through countless papers and old notebooks to start figuring out what is in them that meant so much to me.

I began to see a pattern. Everything I kept was something I worked hard on in my mind. It took time and effort to create these things and my previous self decided to keep them. I meditated on this for a moment to figure out what the root cause of my issue was.

In order to explain I have to take you back to a job I left a few months ago because we had an issue with my paid time off. They had paid me for hours that I didn’t take off and decided that it was good enough that I got paid for that time so they wouldn’t give it back… I remember how strongly I felt about losing a few days of vacation/sick time and it dawned on me.

I refuse to give up MY time.

I enjoy working, I love having something to do and people to help, but don’t ever take time away from me.

So my current journey into a minimalist lifestyle is going to be a really reflective time. I hope to use this time to see if I am able to give up my past and focus on my present. What are your goals for this year?

In a large frying pan break up the beef crumbles and pour the water on. Stir over medium heat until crumbles are warmed through (there should be just enough moisture for the mix to hold to the meat substitute). Mix in taco seasoning.

I added a layer of all my greens, a layer of salsa, a layer of Daiya, a layer of taco filling and topped it off with Taco Bell Mild sauce as the dressing.

A word of caution for those who don’t like spicy foods, the plant proteins hold the heat in more than meat does!! Caliente!

Those who know me know I would eat pizza all day everyday if my clothing would allow it. Fortunately for me I have very tight jeans that stop me all the time and scream “EAT A SALAD WOMAN!!”

So I started out on Pintrest and YouTube researching random information and recipes I thought I would like to make vegetables more appealing. I found some interesting recipes and a YouTuber that I fell in love with at first sight, Alyse Brautigam.

My first video I saw of Alyse was about dreadlocks (LOL) and I just couldn’t stop watching this inspiring creature. She is beautiful and smart and confident, everything I wanted to be. So after about four hours of watching countless videos of her it dawned on me… I can be like her.

She was doing videos about everything in her life at the time. She dropped out of college, moved to Hawaii, was a raw vegan and lived very eco-friendly. The ONLY difference between us is she is farther along in her journey. She found these things at an earlier time than I did. She is an inspiration and she helped me realize my true purpose in life (more on that later).

SO here I sit starting out on my slow journey into a raw vegan, eco-friendly, minimalist lifestyle and I am so excited for the journey ahead.

I have been inspired by YouTube’s Brittany Taylor and Alyse of Raw Alignment to simplify my life. So today I begin the journey to removing my unwanted items a little at the time. I enjoy the idea of handling this one day at a time and getting rid of only a few things at a time.

Anyone who knows me, knows I am the messiest person you will ever meet. I have a small (huge) shopping addiction and no system of organization. I have started removing the biggest mess first, my clothing.

My steps to cleaning out my closet:

1: do all of the laundry so I have everything clean and in front of my face.
2: Empty the drawers, closets, and hiding places (seriously my cleaning system is out of sight out of mind).
3: For every item I keep I have to get rid of 2 similar items.
4: If you don’t remember buying it or you don’t think you would buy it at a store today, GET RID OF IT!!!!
5: Donate/Sell anything in good shape and throw the rest in the garbage.

I was raised to be a free spirit that follows her own mind, heart and gut instinct. I have found many religious beliefs and two things to adore, one of which is my chihuahua, Zeta Sage, and the other is adventure. I want to spend the rest of my life chasing happiness and enlightenment. My latest adventure is learning to bake everything I love from scratch. Who knows what adventure that can lead to. All I know is that I will always trust the butterflies…